With Lardarius Webb already sidelined with a season-ending injury, the Ravens now know that they'll be without his replacement for this weekend's showdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers and beyond.

Second-year cornerback Jimmy Smith, who was Webb's replacement in the starting lineup, had successful groin surgery today in Philadelphia and is expected to miss several weeks. The team expressed optimism that he'll return before the end of the season.

Smith is expected to be back by the end of the season, according to Ravens Senior Vice President of Public & Community Relations Kevin Byrne.

Sigh... At least he's not trying to play through the injury. It seems like there would be enough time for Smith to come back later in the season but we don't know how big of a deal the surgery was. I still don't expect to see Johnson on the field too much so soon but he might eventually compete with Brown for the #3 spot.

In the short term, I think this is a bigger blow to him than it is to the team. He has, quite frankly, been absolute crap this season in my opinion, and a lot of my desire to see him get playing time has been predicated on the hope that him getting more experience and starting to put it together. So the fact that this stalls his development again means we're probably back to square 1 as to figuring out how to actually get him to fulfill his potential means we're that much farther away from him being worth his 1st round draft grade in the long run, but in the short term, as long as Chris Johnson doesn't turn out to have completely lost the ability to play football I don't think our corner back crew is THAT much worse off. I like Chykie, I think he's shown some promise when he's gotten on th efield and shouldn't be too much of a drop off from Jimmy Smith. He seems better capable of using his physicality than Jimmy has been, as well.

Jimmy Smith has regressed a lot this season and seems like he's going down a path of being a failed, or at least disappointing, 1st round pick. The work ethic and attitude doesn't really jive with the Ravens ethos, he plays softer and less disciplined than was advertised, and he can't stay healthy. Next man up, as they say._________________

Jimmy is too soft to play in the NFL. He is hurt every single year and that's not a good look at all. I hope Asa Jackson gets to see some time now.

I wouldn't go as far as to call him 'too soft' yet -- he sprained his ankle the 1st play of last season, and this year was battle a groin injury. Two injuries in 2 years doesn't exactly constitute 'too soft' in my mind._________________

Eh, not concerned about the secondary, because I like what I've seen so far from our crew, but more worried about special teams. This should prevent Graham, who obviously excels on ST, from contributing there in any way._________________2000 ● WORLD CHAMPIONS ● 2012

Eh, not concerned about the secondary, because I like what I've seen so far from our crew, but more worried about special teams. This should prevent Graham, who obviously excels on ST, from contributing there in any way.

It really shouldn't, though. Asa Jackson and Chykie Brown and now Chris Johnson can play on defense and let Graham spell them and play on ST._________________

Eh, not concerned about the secondary, because I like what I've seen so far from our crew, but more worried about special teams. This should prevent Graham, who obviously excels on ST, from contributing there in any way.

I think you're forgetting who coaches this team. Harbaugh would put an injured Ray Lewis out there on special teams if he thought he could get away with it.

The guy overused Webb as a rookie that possibly led to his initial ACL injury. He had Jimmy Smith on kickoff coverage- which is probably one of the special teams where injury occurs most frequently. We've put Ed Reed back to return punts after he's been hurt in the game... You best believe Graham will not see much, if any, loss in special teams responsibility. But hey, maybe Harbaugh will have a soft spot for the guy._________________

Eh, not concerned about the secondary, because I like what I've seen so far from our crew, but more worried about special teams. This should prevent Graham, who obviously excels on ST, from contributing there in any way.

I think you're forgetting who coaches this team. Harbaugh would put an injured Ray Lewis out there on special teams if he thought he could get away with it.

The guy overused Webb as a rookie that possibly led to his initial ACL injury. He had Jimmy Smith on kickoff coverage- which is probably one of the special teams where injury occurs most frequently. We've put Ed Reed back to return punts after he's been hurt in the game... You best believe Graham will not see much, if any, loss in special teams responsibility. But hey, maybe Harbaugh will have a soft spot for the guy.

This entire post was so true I just couldn't help but laugh. Ahhhh Harbs, you never cease to amaze me in your stupidity in terms of Special Teams (and challenges)!_________________

Jimmy is too soft to play in the NFL. He is hurt every single year and that's not a good look at all. I hope Asa Jackson gets to see some time now.

I wouldn't go as far as to call him 'too soft' yet -- he sprained his ankle the 1st play of last season, and this year was battle a groin injury. Two injuries in 2 years doesn't exactly constitute 'too soft' in my mind.

Yeah and he could probably have continued to play through this second one (since he has) if we needed him to. But there's really no way we can tell that Smith's play hasn't been affected by this injury. I just wish he would've gotten this surgery sooner. He could've easily had surgery done before the bye and we could've played two of our softer games coming off the bye. He could've been completely healthy and possibly hitting his stride going into the playoffs.

Also I don't get what has disappointed so many regarding Smith. He was a late first round corner. JJoe was another late first round corner that came into the league a little raw... And while Smith excelled in press-man at the collegiate level at an elite level... He had next to no experience playing off man coverage. JJoe took a few years to get over injuries and to become more consistent as a player and a little more before he took a serious leap to become truly elite. Smith played really well as a rookie outside of the Chargers game. He played well in the playoffs. And this year he's been playing through an injury for some time now.

And even then, I think he's largely looked lockdown in coverage outside of probably 4 plays a game where he either bites on a double move or slips in coverage. Obviously he needs to improve his consistency, but questioning his work ethic I think is a little unfair. He's drastically improved in his ability to play off-man. He still has a lot of gains he can still make, but lets not act like he's chopped liver out there. I'd say 70% of the time he's superior to Cary Williams, but then the other 30% are those bad plays that he has.

I think he gets some undue criticism. I think he still has another year before we should be mentioning bust. If he still looks how he looks now after next season, than yeah... Definite bust. For all we know he returns from this injury rejuvenated and beast modes in the playoffs._________________

Eh, not concerned about the secondary, because I like what I've seen so far from our crew, but more worried about special teams. This should prevent Graham, who obviously excels on ST, from contributing there in any way.

I think you're forgetting who coaches this team. Harbaugh would put an injured Ray Lewis out there on special teams if he thought he could get away with it.

The guy overused Webb as a rookie that possibly led to his initial ACL injury. He had Jimmy Smith on kickoff coverage- which is probably one of the special teams where injury occurs most frequently. We've put Ed Reed back to return punts after he's been hurt in the game... You best believe Graham will not see much, if any, loss in special teams responsibility. But hey, maybe Harbaugh will have a soft spot for the guy.

This entire post was so true I just couldn't help but laugh. Ahhhh Harbs, you never cease to amaze me in your stupidity in terms of Special Teams (and challenges)!

Yeah it doesn't even faze me any more. It's just funny to see how far he'll go. I just hope he doesn't put our future stud pass rusher out on special teams.

Though he has improved on his challenges in recent seasons- substantially actually. I happen to think that he's pretty comparable to the rest of the league coaches. Sure he'll have some gaffs but plenty of coaches have those dumb challenges that all fans have their WTH moments over. So that's a positive._________________

Last edited by diamondbull424 on Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:43 pm; edited 1 time in total

Jimmy is too soft to play in the NFL. He is hurt every single year and that's not a good look at all. I hope Asa Jackson gets to see some time now.

I wouldn't go as far as to call him 'too soft' yet -- he sprained his ankle the 1st play of last season, and this year was battle a groin injury. Two injuries in 2 years doesn't exactly constitute 'too soft' in my mind.

Yeah and he could probably have continued to play through this second one (since he has) if we needed him to. But there's really no way we can tell that Smith's play hasn't been affected by this injury. I just wish he would've gotten this surgery sooner. He could've easily had surgery done before the bye and we could've played two of our softer games coming off the bye. He could've been completely healthy and possibly hitting his stride going into the playoffs.

Also I don't get what has disappointed so many regarding Smith. He was a late first round corner. JJoe was another late first round corner that came into the league a little raw... And while Smith excelled in press-man at the collegiate level at an elite level... He had next to no experience playing off man coverage. JJoe took a few years to get over injuries and to become more consistent as a player and a little more before he took a serious leap to become truly elite. Smith played really well as a rookie outside of the Chargers game. He played well in the playoffs. And this year he's been playing through an injury for some time now.

And even then, I think he's largely looked lockdown in coverage outside of probably 4 plays a game where he either bites on a double move or slips in coverage. Obviously he needs to improve his consistency, but questioning his work ethic I think is a little unfair. He's drastically improved in his ability to play off-man. He still has a lot of gains he can still make, but lets not act like he's chopped liver out there. I'd say 70% of the time he's superior to Cary Williams, but then the other 30% are those bad plays that he has.

I think he gets some undue criticism. I think he still has another year before we should be mentioning bust. If he still looks how he looks now after next season, than yeah... Definite bust. For all we know he returns from this injury rejuvenated and beast modes in the playoffs.

I agree. It's not like he's out there getting picked on all day -- it's just that he does tend to bite a few times a game and he gets burned because of it. However, for the most part he's very much holding his own. I laugh at commentators who routinely say "Jimmy Smith has been getting picked on all year by QBs" when that's really not the case. He's had some costly miscues, but overall he really hasn't been that bad at all IMO._________________

In the short term, I think this is a bigger blow to him than it is to the team. He has, quite frankly, been absolute crap this season in my opinion, and a lot of my desire to see him get playing time has been predicated on the hope that him getting more experience and starting to put it together. So the fact that this stalls his development again means we're probably back to square 1 as to figuring out how to actually get him to fulfill his potential means we're that much farther away from him being worth his 1st round draft grade in the long run, but in the short term, as long as Chris Johnson doesn't turn out to have completely lost the ability to play football I don't think our corner back crew is THAT much worse off. I like Chykie, I think he's shown some promise when he's gotten on th efield and shouldn't be too much of a drop off from Jimmy Smith. He seems better capable of using his physicality than Jimmy has been, as well.

Jimmy Smith has regressed a lot this season and seems like he's going down a path of being a failed, or at least disappointing, 1st round pick. The work ethic and attitude doesn't really jive with the Ravens ethos, he plays softer and less disciplined than was advertised, and he can't stay healthy. Next man up, as they say.

This is all that needs to be said. Johnson hasn't put on a uniform for over a year now, and it still shouldn't be too much to ask of him to fair better than Jimmy Smith has.

PFF has Smith graded as the worst CB in the league. I wouldn't agree with that necessarily, but he's been pretty bad._________________
Bernard "Crush Boy" Pollard- Forever a Raven

Eh, not concerned about the secondary, because I like what I've seen so far from our crew, but more worried about special teams. This should prevent Graham, who obviously excels on ST, from contributing there in any way.

I think you're forgetting who coaches this team. Harbaugh would put an injured Ray Lewis out there on special teams if he thought he could get away with it.

Yeah, as a punt returner.

To be fair, if Ed's back it's generally to just fair catch it. Unless #20 decides "screw that"._________________

Eh, not concerned about the secondary, because I like what I've seen so far from our crew, but more worried about special teams. This should prevent Graham, who obviously excels on ST, from contributing there in any way.

I think you're forgetting who coaches this team. Harbaugh would put an injured Ray Lewis out there on special teams if he thought he could get away with it.

Yeah, as a punt returner.

To be fair, if Ed's back it's generally to just fair catch it. Unless #20 decides "screw that".